Early retirement for Pocono Mountain teachers may be put to a vote tonight

The Pocono Mountain School District and its teachers union are working to come to an agreement by tonight on an early retirement offer for current teachers.

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By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

poconorecord.com

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Aug. 1, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI
Posted Aug. 1, 2012 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

The Pocono Mountain School District and its teachers union are working to come to an agreement by tonight on an early retirement offer for current teachers.

District administration officials said the goal is to have a memorandum of understanding between the district and the union in time for approval at tonight's school board meeting.

District officials would not release the details of any possible deal, and union officials would not comment on negotiations.

As of Tuesday, the retirement offer had not been included on tonight's agenda. District spokeswoman Wendy Frable said there will be a discussion about the early retirement incentive at the meeting, but nothing public will be available before then.

"Stay tuned for (tonight)," union Treasurer Tom Brogan said. "It's the district's prerogative whether it will be put on the agenda."

If the agreement can't be reached by tonight, the next scheduled board meeting is Aug. 15. That would give the district just 19 days before the Sept. 4 school start date to find out what teachers would take the retirement offer and to fill the resulting positions from a list of laid-off teachers.

The board could hold an earlier special meeting if it chooses.

"It's a quick turnaround," said Assistant Superintendent Anthony Arnold on getting the teacher roster complete by the start of the school year. "But it's nothing we can't handle."

Administration officials said they don't yet know how many teachers would be eligible for the offer.

If the offer is accepted, the district is up against time constraints, since it also could offer another plan to the school board — a plan for how to use more than $1 million of a cash infusion. The money came from alterations to the state budget.

The final calculation of how much will be available is expected to be between $1.1 million and $1.3 million, district officials said.

Superintendent Elizabeth Robison said the money likely will be used to bring back teachers, but it is not yet known how many would be rehired. In June, the district laid off about 150 teachers one year after laying off 85 teachers.

A handful of the laid-off teachers have been hired back since June to fill positions with unexpected vacancies, but administration officials did not have an exact count of how many.

The district has experience in acclimating late hires to new positions. During the district's time of unforeseen growth in the early and mid-2000s, Robison said mid-August hires were the norm when final enrollment numbers were analyzed.

Because the district altered its calendar recently to start school on Sept. 4, Arnold said there is a little more time to get the teacher roster complete.